Star Trek Props Displayed

The props in question are a communicator, what’s called a tricorder but clearly is not, and, uh, that little dildo widget that goes in Uhura’s ear.

I have a problem with this.

Take a look at the trailer again:

Notice how much J.J. Abrams changed? He has Pike knowing Kirk, he has the Enterprise being built on Earth, he has Kirk and McCoy going to the academy together, he has Chekov on the bridge … geez, he has the bridge tricked out like the cosmetics counter at a department store. Everything’s different, and we now know there’s a reason for that, but that doesn’t change the fact that radical changes were made to the TOS infrastructure.

So why did he keep the ear thing?

I’ve mentioned this before. And I stand by that. The ear thing looked stupid. It will still look stupid. In the 60s, it may have been a cutting-edge idea about the future. But in the 21st century, hey, we have smaller ones now.

Maybe it’s just a nod to tradition. I can accept that. But why this tradition? Why put a buttplug in a woman’s ear? If you’re going to have a James T. Kirk who can drive a stick shift, why not dump the stupid ear-gizmo altogether?